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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Quakes Lengthen Cracks In Pyramid

Associated Press

A moderate aftershock rattled the Middle East on Thursday, and caretakers of the great pyramids discovered the previous day’s deadly quake has spread slight cracks in a 5,000-year-old tomb.

The 20-second, magnitude-5.4 aftershock was centered south of the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Nuweiba, the same as the original quake Wednesday, Israel’s Institute for Petroleum Research and Geophysics said.

Wednesday’s earthquake rocked seaside communities in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and spread panic across a wide arc of the Middle East. Buildings toppled, electricity was cut and at least eight people were killed.

Readings for that quake differed; the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., set its magnitude at 7.2.

There were no immediate reports of major injuries or damage from Thursday’s aftershock, although electricity and some phone service was interrupted in the Israeli resort of Eilat.

In Cairo, the government overseer of the Giza Plateau’s ancient monuments found that Wednesday’s quake had lengthened cracks in a chamber of Chephren, the second-largest of three great pyramids.

What were 2-inch cracks in the interior plaster of the main burial chamber now are 8-inch cracks, Zahi Khawass said. “But the walls and the basic structure are in good shape.”

The pyramid was built for Chephren, an ancient ruler about whom little is known, between 2589 B.C. and 2530 B.C.

It was closed Oct. 10 for what is expected to be a three-month repair project for damage caused by tourists and time.

In Libya, the official JANA news agency aired Libyan geology experts’ contention that Wednesday’s shaking actually was the result of Israeli nuclear tests in the Gulf of Aqaba.